Journal of Language and Translation
Volume:12 Issue: 3, Autumn 2022

This present study was carried out to investigate the effect of computer-based dynamic assessment (CBDA) on Iranian EFL learners’ performance in writing and their attitude towards CBDA. To do so, 60 intermediate EFL learners were chosen out of 120 EFL learners based on their performance on the Nelson Language Proficiency Test. Next, they were randomly divided into two equal groups; CBDA as the experimental group and a control group. Based on a pretest and posttest design, group-specific writing instruction followed by an attitude questionnaire was conducted. The experimental group underwent CBDA while the control group was exposed to the conventional writing skill instruction. The pertinent parametric and nonparametric statistical analyses indicated both significant differences between the CBDA and control groups on developing writing performance, on the one hand, and positive attitude towards CBDA, on the other. The study’s findings suggest that teaching and assessing writing skills through a computer can improve students’ performance in writing. Alongside its theoretical contributions to the field, it may assure the practitioners of the cognitive and emotive applicability and efficacy of CBDA in EFL settings in general and in teaching writing skills in particular.

Translation evaluation is an activity of vital concern in the context of translator education. However, it is one that is, despite being a common practice, under-researched and under-discussed. The leading purposes were to determine the dominant methods for translation evaluation of undergraduate students in the final tests of translation courses at Iranian universities and to identify its major characteristics. To meet the objectives, in a 30-minute semi-structured interview, 10 experienced university translation instructors responded to 10 questions on how they develop their translation tests, how they guarantee the quality of their tests, and most importantly, how they evaluate and score their students’ performance. The results confirmed that the dominant method which is commonly and currently practiced is the purely essay-type format except at Payam-e-Noor University where multiple-choice items are always present as well. The findings also showed how much discrepancy exists among the Iranian translation teachers (as developers of final translation tests), who are least informed about the current translation evaluation methods. It was also revealed that the criteria they use for developing such tests and scoring student translations are not theory-driven but are highly subjective, mainly based on their personal experience and intuition. Hence, the quality and accountability of such tests are under serious question.

This descriptive and corpus-based study examined the role of genres and their discourse features in information structure and its syntactic representations in Persian. It aimed to investigate three genres of Persian spoken language, that is, political, scientific, and everyday conversation, in terms of their information structure as realized through four syntactic devices of clefting, pseudo-clefting, passive, and preposing. For this purpose, 1000 utterances related to each of the mentioned genres were extracted based on Lambrecht’s theoretical framework for modeling the information structure. The collected data were then transcribed, and the most frequently-used syntactic structures of information structure in each genre were identified. Finally, the Mann-Whitney U test and descriptive statistics were used to see which of the three genre types has higher values than the other two in terms of the four syntactic devices. The results of data analysis revealed that there is a significant difference among the three genres in terms of the frequency of use of syntactic devices. In fact, preposing occurred most frequently in everyday conversations, passives in scientific texts, and clefting and pseudo-clefts in political texts. This finding has supportive implications for linguistic and educational experts as well as language theoreticians.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the relationship between cognitive engagement and achievement goals. It also examines which type of achievement goals, i.e., mastery approach goal, performance-approach goal, mastery avoidance goal, and the performance-avoidance goal is the strongest predictor of cognitive engagement. A quantitative approach has been employed for the purposes of this study. To this end, 183 advanced Iranian EFL learners filled out two validated Likert scale questionnaires on achievement goals (Elliot & Murayama, 2008) and cognitive engagement (Gunuc & Kuzu, 2015) entailing 12 and 10 items, respectively. The findings of the two self-report questionnaires revealed that cognitive engagement and achievement goals were positively correlated. Cognitive engagement was also found to be positively and significantly correlated with the mastery approach and performance approach. Likewise, the results of the multiple linear regression analysis manifested that the mastery approach and the performance approach were ranked as the first and second significant predictors of cognitive engagement, respectively. The study holds crucial pedagogical implications for EFL teachers, educators, and syllabus designers. In light of the findings of the present study, applied linguists and educational psychologists may explore new lines of approach to cognitively engage language learners on the path to achieving their learning goals.

This study investigated Iranian EFL Teachers’ attitudes towards instructional technology in their classroom and its impact on their job satisfaction. Data were collected using the Media Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale and Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire to examine teachers’ attitudes towards the use of instructional technology within the classroom and its effects on their job satisfaction. A sample of 80 teachers was asked to complete a survey detailing their job satisfaction and assessing attitudes towards technology integration in the classroom. Based on the present study’s findings, teachers’ job satisfaction slightly predicted the impacts of instructional technology. In addition, after analyzing the data using multiple regression analysis, it was further discovered that the use of a smartphone could highly predict the significant impacts of the use of integrated technology on teachers’ job satisfaction. The research suggested that teachers need support to better integrate the available technologies within the classroom.

This study investigated the impact of web-based instruction Googling techniques (GT) and strategic and interactive writing instruction (SIWI) on the L2 writing performance of deaf and hearing-impaired (DHI) Iranian learners. To this end, 60 Iranian male and female DHI students at the elementary level participated in the study. The participants were divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group benefited from two particular instructional focuses of this study: GT and SIWI. In order to assess the effect of the treatment, a pre-test and post-test design was utilized and the obtained results were statistically analyzed. The findings revealed that online strategy-based instruction could positively affect the writing performance of Iranian DHI learners. The findings can have pedagogical implications for material practitioners, CALL package designers, and distance teaching planners to include strategy instruction in English courses for the DHI population.

Teacher effectiveness is regarded as a significant issue in the field of language teaching which has recently received experts’ attention in SLA research. However, no valid instrument has been developed to precisely evaluate the attitudes of Iranian EFL students and/or teachers towards different aspects of teacher effectiveness in the classroom. To do so, in the first phase of this study, a conceptual framework was generated after a comprehensive review of the related literature, and the first draft of the newly-developed EFL teacher effectiveness questionnaire with 47 items was developed and validated with 224 participants. To identify the main components of the questionnaire, an Exploratory Factor Analysis followed by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis was carried out to measure its construct validity. Consequently, the final draft of the questionnaire comprised 42 Likert-point items. In the second phase of the study, the participation of 322 EFL students and 50 EFL teachers was demanded to investigate the effect of modular instruction on EFL teacher effectiveness in the real classroom context. The research results suggested that (1) Iranian EFL learners had a highly positive attitude towards teacher effectiveness constructs such as teacher behavior, attitude, rapport, interest, and effective teaching practice, and (2) the modular instructions had a positive effect on EFL teacher effectiveness. The findings had several pedagogical implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and materials developers as the knowledge of teacher effectiveness and modular instruction could positively affect the nature and conditions of language teaching and learning.

Using observation and a semi-structured interview technique, this study aimed at finding the English learning problems of ESP students in engineering departments of Islamic Azad universities across Mazandaran province from the perspectives of 64 ESP students and 32 ESP teachers in 33 classes who were selected through convenience sampling method. The procedure used for the observation was a narrative summary which included a comprehensive view of the recorded main events in the summary. The results of the study indicated that there are different types of problems in ESP classes which are related to six main categories: Academic setting, ESP teachers, ESP students, ESP materials, ESP teaching methods, and ESP testing methods. The findings of this research are hoped to provide clear insights for ESP instructors around the problems of ESP programs and motivate material developers and Azad University educational headquarters to find a good way to eliminate these problems and improve the quality of ESP courses for engineering students.

The activist view regards translation as an influential instrument for furthering large programs of social and political change. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the activist role of translation in promoting attitudes against cultural imperialism in Iran with a focus on two translations carried out by Ali Shariati. To achieve this, a historical analysis of the translations was conducted using an exploratory-analytical approach. The data were collected from paratextual sources including the translator’s foreword to translations, translatorial comments in sources other than the translated books, biographical records, and news or views about translations based on D’hulst’s (2010) questions to investigate the history of translation. The data relevant to the translator and authors were collected and analyzed based on Chesterman’s (2009) method of analyzing translators. The data were analyzed using Tymoczko’s (2010) ideas on activism in translation. The results indicated that the translations were used as a means to develop ideas against cultural imperialism in Iran via a number of measures and attempts. Moreover, the translations seem to stand in the second stage of activism in a colonial or imperial context tending to reject and oppose imperialism and define an identity based on polarized thinking and binary opposites.

The present study aims at investigating the effect of translation students' metapragmatic awareness at the level of theory on the quality of their humor translations. For this purpose, an experimental study was designed with 50 junior students majoring in English translation during their oral translation course. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction mainly on the implication of Grice’s conversational maxims within the incongruity-resolution theory of humor framework. They learned how violating the maxims might lead to incongruity in the jokes and that such an incongruity must be felt in their translations. The General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) was also briefly explained to increase their sensitivity towards the outcome of their translation. The control group, on the other hand, continued their usual course of oral translation. Both groups participated in pre-and post-tests of humor translation. Statistical analysis of the results using independent samples t-test for both pre-and post-tests revealed significant improvement in the quality of the experimental group's translations, yet the results also indicated their partial success in recognizing the violated maxims. The findings suggested the usefulness of explicit theoretical knowledge in the quality of the translation students' task and had the practical implication that since higher quality translation can result from the instruction on metapragmatics, it can be included in the translation students' syllabus.

This study explores the motivating and demotivating factors among Kurdish and Azerbaijani EFL freshmen students in Iranian Kurdistan and Azerbaijan universities. The motive behind extracting motivating and demotivating factors was discovering the causes of their failure in English learning and offering solutions. Collecting qualitative data was in accord with grounded theory, a three-session semi-structured interview running with 18 interviewees and a focus group with six from each university separately to brainstorm their ideas. The researchers then transcribed and codified the data according to Corbin and Strauss’s (2015) systematic steps of open, axial, and selective coding. For validation, one of the researchers interviewed the same number of students in Payameh Noor universities of Mahabad (with Kurdish students) and Miyandoab (Azerbaijanic students). Subsequently, in line with the body of literature and the data, six joint demotivating factors and 30 categories were obtained for both ethnic groups. In addition, seven motivational factors together with 29 categories were discovered, out of which three were related to Azerbaijani students leading to an integrative type of motivation, and four for Kurdish students making instrumental motivation. The proposed models are helpful for policymakers of education and those who care about better English instruction.

The objective of the present study was to search the extent to which EFL teachers are involved in reflective instruction. For this purpose, the needed data were collected through the following instruments: a) a TOEFL test administered to 350 Iranian EFL students, b) reflective journals written by 120 Iranian EFL teachers, and c) Reflective Teaching Inventory. For the qualitative stage, 120 male and female EFL teachers from two language institutes in Kerman, the center of Iran, were selected throLanguage learning; Language achievement; Reflective teaching; Teachers’ awarenessugh convenient sampling and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Then, a five-week treatment of syllabus preparation and reflective journal writing started. After the treatment, a reflective teaching inventory was given as a post-test to the two groups to test the impact of the treatment. The results of statistical analysis of the elicited data indicated that the experimental group outdid the control group in taking advantage of reflective teaching components. This finding raises provocative questions regarding the relationship between reflective teaching and teaching skills.

Scaffolding as an instructional strategy significantly contributes to learning development. However, there is a lack of studies assessing the comparative effects of various scaffolding strategies. Drawing on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the present study intended to evaluate the effects of motivational, metacognitive, and computer-based scaffolding on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' writing. In this quasi-experimental study, sixty male and female intermediate EFL learners aged 14 to 23 were chosen through convenience sampling from the Jahad language center in Tehran, Iran. They were tested on Preliminary English Test (PET) and were randomly assigned to three equal groups. The IELTS writing test was used as a pre-test and post-test. Learners received a scaffolding instruction package on writing. A statistically significant improvement in the participants’ post-test writing scores was observed in all groups, and motivational scaffolding was the most effective strategy in developing the writing skill of EFL learners. The results could have pedagogical implications for language teachers, learners, and syllabus designers.

This qualitative research aimed to investigate and assess the strategies used for translating onomatopoeias and interjections from English comic books into Persian. In this regard, six issues of the Walking Dead written by Kirkman (2003) were selected to examine onomatopoeias, interjections, and the strategies for translating them into three different translations. The sounds in the comic book were categorized based on the model presented by Igareda (2017). All translation strategies were indicated in order to identify the frequency of each strategy. Afterward, descriptive statistics were utilized to indicate the most and least frequently used strategies. The results of this study demonstrated that maintaining the original as an English loan was the most prevalent strategy used for translating all onomatopoeic words. Equivalence and substitution, together, were the least common strategies used for the translation of onomatopoeias in speech balloons. However, when onomatopoeias were in the background, the least common strategies were omission, changing the meaning, and so on. For translating interjections, the most frequent strategy was translating interjections into corresponding interjections, and the least common strategies were repetition, changing the meaning, and so forth. The present research will provide practical assistance for translators of different proficiency levels such as advanced and novice translators to become more familiar with various strategies and gain deeper insight.

This experimental study investigated the effectiveness of Cognitive Intervention Training on Iranian Elementary School Students’ Reading Performance with Dyslexia. This study was a pre-test and post-test research with a control group. The participants included male and female elementary school students in the third grade in Koudasht - Iran. Thirty-two dyslexic students with an average IQ between 90 to 110 were the sample in this study. They ranged in age from eight to eleven. They were randomly selected. The participants were equally divided into control and experimental groups. The instruments utilized in this study were Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children (WITC), Reading and Dyslexia Test (NEMA), and Cognitive Intervention Training Program. For ten weeks, this program was provided to the experimental group. The test (NEMA) was administered among students to measure their reading performance in pre-and post-tests. Descriptive statistics and covariance analysis showed a meaningful difference between the two groups after applying for the cognitive training at p ˂ 0.01. After receiving cognitive intervention training, experimental students improved their reading performance. The dependent sample t-test also revealed this program was influential in the students’ reading performance with Dyslexia, particularly, on reading words, chain words, words, and text comprehension components. The findings propose that teachers consider this program on different learning steps and prepare more effective activities to help students improve their performance on reading difficulties.

The present study sought to explore how English language teachers in Iran construct their language identity. In doing so, the study also focused on the role of gender. For this purpose, six EFL teachers at an English language school, both male and female, were invited to participate in the study. The researchers asked the participants to fill out Berzonsky’s (2010) identity construction questionnaire – a Likert-scale instrument comprising 40 items – to analyze their answers descriptively. The analysis of the data showed that the participants had an almost high perception of the questionnaire’s informational style and commitment sections but had an average perception of normative and diffuse-avoidant styles. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference between male and female participants regarding their informational style. The implications of this study are elaborated in the paper.

This research paper attempts to carry out a Pettit reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s two short stories from the collection of Interpreter of Maladies (1999). Jhumpa Lahiri illustrates the life of the collection of immigrants, who try to maintain freedoms even in other countries. This idea develops from Philip Noel Pettit’s theory of freedom. To Pettit, freedom as an anti-power removes all slavery concepts and achieves self-mastery. Pettit believes that everyone is free for doing his/ her deeds based on free will. To him, nobody can interfere with somebody’s private property as a master. Also, he centers on anti-power as no domination. The study attempts to find how the characters in these two stories convey Pettit’s theory of freedom as anti-power based on their beliefs and desires. The idea applies to the characters who portrait by Lahiri in the Interpreter of Maladies and This Blessed House. Also, the current research attempts to show the reasons that the characters attempt to keep their freedom in different situations. This research focuses on the main characters to show how they attempt to keep their freedom through their idea and beliefs like Mrs. Das and Twinkle in two story collections. Mrs. Das tries to set herself free by revealing her secret. Also, Twinkle, another character who keeps her favorite objects tries to put aside all prejudices and achieve freedom; based on the examples given, the present research shows how Pettit’s theory of freedom develops during the story series.